Neyvel Santhanagopalan + Ramakrishnan + Ram Sriram-Atlanta-M

sramaswamy · Post by **sramaswamy** » 19 Mar 2008, 01:26

Vocal - Neyveli Santhanagopalan
Violin - Ramakrishnan
Mridangam - Ram Sriram

Date : March 15, 2008 4 pm
Venue : Hindu Temple of Atlanta, Riverdale Georgia

sarasiruhasana priyE -nAttai -- Puliyur Doraiswamy Iyer
rama nannu brovara - Harikambodhi -- Thyagaraja
saarasaksh paripalyamam -- pantuvarali
rama bhadra ra ra - AnandaBhairavi
annapurne - sama
rAmA neeyada - karaharapriya
rama namame - desh
rtp - SindhuBhairavi
begada virutham
thevaram - kiravAnI
chandrachuda - darbari kanada
niri niriga - thillana - pUrvi
surutti
Mangalam

There is this joke in one of S.V.Sekar drama where he explains why the programs start late. The artists are behind the curtain
peeking through the curtain periodically to see whether there is enough audience. While the audience is doing the same thing
from outside the auditorium.

The artiste were well on time. The organizers - (especially Siva) - had worked overtime to get the sound system working. But still
the concert started late! Most of the audience arrived even later. Soon, the weather god arrived as well. The beginning of the cutchery,
there was huge noise. That was hailstorm pelting small cubes on the roof. NSG had to stop singing momentarily thanks to the noise.

Anyway, coming to the concert. It lasted slightly less than three hours. The moments that arrested my attention were the
Pantuvarali alapanai, Sindhubhairavi ragam and thanam, Darbari kAnadA. darbAri KAnada in particular was very emotive. The sindhubhairavi
pallavi was pretty short. The swaram portion also had Surruti. I do not think there was any other ragam in that portion.

Violin by Ramakrishnan was very impressive. On his own he was excellent and very creative. A bit more alacrity in filling up gaps
in vocal would have made it even better.

Ram Sriram had accompanied Neyveli on many occassions and he was very good and his tani avartanam was after the karaharapriya.

On the whole it was a good concert but not one I will consider as special. I thought that there were bit of melakarta overdose.

And secondly...
If I was allowed to pick up only one rendition that I consider as best, my choice will be kamalA manohari alapanai followed by
Kanchadalayadakshi by NSG of 90's.There is a version of that is available in Sangeethapriya. Although the recording is not good,
it still is powerful enough.

With that in mind, I guess it is slightly difficult to reconcile to NSG of 2000

Standard Disclaimer: These are notes by novice. Kindly pardon any mistakes or wrong assumptions!

kadambam · Post by **kadambam** » 19 Mar 2008, 01:52

Ramakrishnan is an outstanding violinist, comparable to the likes of Varadarajan or Embar Kannan. His bowing technique is excellent & he has good creative ideas when he plays kalpanaswaras or alapanas.

If domiciled in Chennai, he would be one of the front ranking violinists today & in future.

Vocalist · Post by **Vocalist** » 19 Mar 2008, 18:34

sramaswamy wrote:sarasiruhasana priyE - Nattai -- Puliyur Doraiswamy Iyer
rama nannu brovara - Harikambodhi -- Thyagaraja
saarasaksha-- Panthuvarali- Swathi Thirunal
rama bhadra ra ra - Anandabhairavi - Bhadrachala Ramadas
annapurne - Sama - Dikshitar
rAmA neeyada - Kharaharapriya - Thyagaraja
rama namame - Desh - Thanjavore Shankara Iyer
(rtp) - Sindhubhairavi
(virutham) - Begada
(thevaram) 'Vananai' - Kiravani - Appar
chandrachuda - Darbarikanada - Purandaradasa
niri niriga (thillana) - Poorvi - Tirukkokarnam Subbarama Bhagavatar
- Surutti
(mangalam)

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 19 Mar 2008, 19:56

Could someone please post some details about the violinist (lineage etc) and mridangam artiste?

sramaswamy · Post by **sramaswamy** » 19 Mar 2008, 23:32

Vocalist

Thanks for making the list more complete

mahavishnu

Ramakrishnan

I do not know much about Ramakrishnan. The only point I remember from the introduction is that he learnt from Lalgudi Brahmanandam. As Kadambam mentions he is pretty young.

Ram Sriram

Ram Sriram learnt mridangam from T.V.Gopalakrishnan and then from Srimushnam V. Raja Rao. He is based in Atlanta. He is the President of the Carnatic Music Assocation of Georgia (CAMAGA) and has been for quite a number of years. He frequently plays for the artistes when they play/sing in Atlanta. He also has written some Carnatic Music articles found here

http://www.camaga.org

and click on the link that says "Vidhyarthi - Art, Music, mythology forum"

And one of his articles is discussed here

http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=1189

And by the way, the thyagaraja aradhana is still conducted in Atlanta every year

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 20 Mar 2008, 01:25

thanks, Sramaswamy.

srichitra · Post by **srichitra** » 22 Mar 2008, 22:18

mahavishnu wrote:Could someone please post some details about the violinist (lineage etc) and mridangam artiste?

I have listened to Ramakrishna' solo violin on A.I.R recently. It was really superb. I remember listening to him few years back at Music Academy. He has also given concerts with T.Rukmini.
regards
chitra

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 23 Mar 2008, 00:13

thanks, Srichitra. Has he also trained under T. Rukmini?